First pick
Forêt des Encheur
Wood or forest
951 ha
7.3 km south-eastfrom the center
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Yzergues · CC BY-SA 4.024%woodland
Outdoors in Ardentes · protected areas, woods and footpaths
Almost every home in Ardentes is within 800 m of a park or wood
17 km of footpaths cross Ardentes (0.3 km per km²). 24% of Ardentes is mapped woodland. No protected area reaches Ardentes; the nearest, Vallée de l’Indre (Natura 2000), is 8.9 km from the town center. France has no Outdoors Grade yet: these are the figures, each beside the compared towns’ median.
Protected areas
0%
of the commune’s land
Nearest: Vallée de l’Indre, 8.9 km
Woodland
24%
of the land, mapped on OpenStreetMap
Compared town: 13%
Footpaths
17 km
0.3 km per km²
Compared town: 1.7 km per km²
Hiking routes
14 km
waymarked, GR and others
Compared town: 0.3 km per km²
Parks & woods
4
named, in or within 400 m of the commune
First: Forêt des Encheur
Throughout this page, the Indre median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median.
What kind of place
What kind of outdoors place is Ardentes?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and less good.
Protected land nearbyVallée de l’Indre (Natura 2000) is 8.9 km from the town center.Few mapped footpaths0.3 km per km², against 1.7 km per km² for the median compared town.
What sets Ardentes apart: protected land close by. It is shorter on footpaths.
Against French towns
How Ardentes compares with French towns
Each figure against the 3,798 compared French towns (communes with an overall grade): the marked bar is the town’s, the line the median. Described, not graded.
Protected areas0%Share of the land in a national park, regional nature park, nature reserve or Natura 2000 site
22out of 100
Woodland24%Share of the land mapped as forest or woods on OpenStreetMap
69out of 100
Footpaths0.3 km per km²Km of mapped footpath and track open on foot, per km² of the commune
5out of 100
Hiking routes0.2 km per km²Km of waymarked hiking routes (GR and others), per km² of the commune
40out of 100
Percentiles among compared French towns; ties count half.
Towns its size
Ardentes has the 3rd fewest footpaths per km² of 41 towns its size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population (3,687 to 3,745 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Sochaux (5.8 km per km²) to Montastruc-la-Conseillère (0.2 km per km²).
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | Coast | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sochaux Doubs | 5.8 | 6.7% | 0% | 418 km |
| 2 | Bailly Yvelines | 5.5 | 31% | 0% | 140 km |
| 3 | Cabourg Calvados | 4.3 | 0.4% | 0% | 0.8 km |
| 4 | Étupes Doubs | 3.5 | 54% | 0% | 417 km |
| 5 | Pélussin Loire | 2.7 | 50% | 100% | 212 km |
| 6 | Bohars Finistère | 2.6 | 11% | 0% | 3.3 km |
| 7 | Lourches Nord | 2.5 | 5.6% | 0% | 103 km |
| 8 | Blanzat Puy-de-Dôme | 2.5 | 24% | 0.1% | 263 km |
| 9 | La Ferté-Alais Essonne | 2.3 | 26% | 100% | 181 km |
| 10 | Les Rousses Jura | 2.3 | 52% | 100% | 321 km |
| 11 | Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort Gard | 2.2 | 38% | 58% | 47 km |
| 12 | Audierne Finistère | 2.2 | 16% | 12% | On it |
| 13 | Ganges Hérault | 2 | 30% | 65% | 48 km |
| 14 | Meurchin Pas-de-Calais | 1.9 | 7.8% | 0% | 70 km |
| 15 | Latresne Gironde | 1.7 | 8.9% | 21% | 25 km |
| 16 | Veyre-Monton Puy-de-Dôme | 1.5 | 6.6% | 1.6% | 245 km |
| 17 | Isneauville Seine-Maritime | 1.5 | 6.7% | 0% | 47 km |
| 18 | La Rivière-de-Corps Aube | 1.3 | 4.3% | 0% | 271 km |
| 19 | Rœulx Nord | 1.2 | 0.4% | 0% | 103 km |
| 20 | Moncé-en-Belin Sarthe | 1.1 | 34% | 0% | 141 km |
| 21 | Plobannalec-Lesconil Finistère | 1.1 | 3.3% | 0% | On it |
| 22 | Houdan Yvelines | 0.9 | 1.9% | 0% | 115 km |
| 23 | Morschwiller-le-Bas Haut-Rhin | 0.9 | 9.4% | 13% | 439 km |
| 24 | Bouzonville Moselle | 0.8 | 27% | 2.8% | 332 km |
| 25 | Flassans-sur-Issole Var | 0.7 | 58% | 0.8% | 28 km |
| 26 | Objat Corrèze | 0.7 | 8.2% | 0% | 160 km |
| 27 | Pleyben Finistère | 0.7 | 13% | 100% | 9.4 km |
| 28 | Créhange Moselle | 0.7 | 5.5% | 0% | 353 km |
| 29 | Pannes Loiret | 0.7 | 8.9% | 0% | 233 km |
| 30 | Peyrehorade Landes | 0.6 | 36% | 0% | 29 km |
| 31 | Coulanges-lès-Nevers Nièvre | 0.6 | 7.8% | 5.1% | 338 km |
| 32 | Bonnétable Sarthe | 0.6 | 34% | 0% | 130 km |
| 33 | Vouillé Vienne | 0.5 | 21% | 0% | 107 km |
| 34 | Montamisé Vienne | 0.5 | 37% | 38% | 124 km |
| 35 | Sartène Corse-du-Sud | 0.4 | 17% | 39% | On it |
| 36 | Labastide-Saint-Pierre Tarn-et-Garonne | 0.4 | 3.4% | 1.5% | 169 km |
| 37 | Neuvic Dordogne | 0.3 | 36% | 10% | 84 km |
| 38 | Ribérac Dordogne | 0.3 | 9% | 12% | 77 km |
| 39 | Ardentes Indre | 0.3 | 24% | 0% | 231 km |
| 40 | Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze Gard | 0.2 | 1.3% | 91% | 11 km |
| 41 | Montastruc-la-Conseillère Haute-Garonne | 0.2 | 8.4% | 0% | 142 km |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park or wood. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is the commune’s boundary.
Green: parks, gardens and woods mapped on OpenStreetMap, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · INPN / PatriNat · IGN
Places to walk
Parks and woods to walk in, in and around Ardentes
Named parks, gardens and woods in the commune or within 400 m, the biggest and best-pathed first: Forêt des Encheur leads, at 951 ha. Directions go to a point inside.
Champ de Foire Saint-Martin
Park or garden
1.1 ha0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Ardentes
Directionsto a point inside
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL): named parks, gardens and woods; sizes are the whole site.
Protected areas
Vallée de l’Indre is the nearest protected area, 8.9 km away
The protected areas reaching the commune, and the nearest: national parks, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites.
Natura 2000 site
Vallée de l’Indre
8.9 km from the town center
Share of the commune’s land
Any protected area0%
Designations overlap (a regional park can hold a Natura 2000 site), so the rows don’t add up; the first counts each piece of land once.
Source: INPN / PatriNat, protected areas July 2026, Natura 2000 December 2024; shares of IGN’s commune boundary.
Footpaths and woods
17 km of footpaths and 14 km of hiking routes cross Ardentes
Paths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, and waymarked hiking routes, mapped on OpenStreetMap inside the commune; woods are mapped forest and woodland, private woods included.
Footpaths
17 km
0.3 km per km²
Hiking routes
14 km
waymarked: 0.2 km per km²
Woodland
24%
about 15 km² of mapped woods
Km per km² of the commune · mapped on OpenStreetMap
ArdentesIndre medianFrance median
Footpaths0.3
Hiking routes0.2
012 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
ArdentesIndre medianFrance median
Woodland24%
0%50%100%
That is less than in 95% of compared French towns for footpaths per km², and for woodland more than in 69% of compared French towns. Hiking routes often follow paths and lanes already counted, so the two lengths overlap: don’t add them. Every home in Ardentes is within 800 m of a mapped park or wood, as in most French towns.
3 named hiking routes within 2 km
Other named walk
De Tours à Toulouse 02, Châteauroux - Aubusson19 km
Sentier de la Motte2.9 km
Sentier de l'Étang de Berthommiers1.1 km
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), extracts of October 25, 2026 (Geofabrik).
When to get out
The best walking months in Ardentes: April to September
Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at Chateauroux, 11 km away, and the daylight at the town’s latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 15 to 30 °C and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 8.9 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 10.8 | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 27 | 27 | 23 | 18 | 12 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 71 | 58 | 59 | 71 | 76 | 57 | 61 | 56 | 64 | 83 | 78 | 82 |
August is the driest month (56 mm) and the warmest (highs of 27 °C). 83 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 50 nights a year. The climate in Ardentes →
Neighbors
Next to Ardentes
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by the share of their land in protected areas.
Le PoinçonnetChâteaurouxDéolsSaint-MaurLa ChâtreVilledieu-sur-IndreArdentes
Under 1%1–10 %10–25 %25–50 %50 %+
| Town | Protected | Woodland | Paths (km/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ardentes | 0% | 24% | 0.3 |
| Le Poinçonnet 5,855 · 8.7 km | 0% | 66% | 0.5 |
| Châteauroux 42,963 · 12 km | 4.8% | 3.8% | 2.3 |
| Déols 7,600 · 14 km | 6.9% | 4.6% | 0.6 |
| Saint-Maur 3,537 · 15 km | 2.1% | 33% | 0.5 |
| La Châtre 4,037 · 22 km | 0% | 6.5% | 3.7 |
| Villedieu-sur-Indre 2,583 · 25 km | 1.5% | 18% | 0.1 |
Le Poinçonnet is more wooded.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Protected areas. National-park cores, national parks’ outer areas, regional nature parks, nature reserves and Natura 2000 sites, from INPN. A national park’s core is strictly protected; its outer area and a regional park are charters between communes, not bans. Designations overlap, so the total counts each piece of land once.
- Woodland. Forest and woods as OpenStreetMap maps them, private woods included: woods nobody has mapped are missing, and a mapped wood isn’t necessarily open to walkers.
- Footpaths and hiking routes. Footpaths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, then waymarked hiking routes (GR and others) measured apart. A route often follows a path or lane already counted: the two overlap. Paths nobody has mapped are missing.
- Green space nearby. The share of residents (INSEE’s 200 m grid) within 800 m, as the crow flies, of a mapped park, garden or wood edge. It measures nearness, not a way in. Guadeloupe and French Guiana have no grid: their pages say whether the town center is within 800 m.
- The coast. The straight-line distance from the town center to OpenStreetMap’s coastline, which follows the tide line into estuaries. A commune is on the coast when the coastline crosses its boundary.
- No grade yet. U.S. and UK towns have an Outdoors Grade; French towns don’t yet. Each figure is set beside the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade) in the département and in France, each figure its own median.
Questions about the outdoors in Ardentes
Is Ardentes in a national or regional nature park?
No. The nearest protected area is Vallée de l’Indre, 8.9 km from the town center.
Are there good walks in Ardentes?
OpenStreetMap maps 17 km of footpaths and tracks open on foot in the commune, 0.3 km per km² (the median compared town: 1.7 km per km²); 14 km of waymarked hiking routes cross it.
How much of Ardentes is woodland?
24% of the commune is mapped woodland, private woods included; the median compared French town has 13%.
Is Ardentes near the sea?
No: the coast is 231 km from the town center, as the crow flies.
When is the best time for walking in Ardentes?
April to September: long days, mild highs and little rain, from Météo-France’s 1991–2020 normals at the nearest suitable station.
Why is there no Outdoors Grade for French towns?
TownRatings grades the outdoors in the U.S. and the UK; the French figures are new and not graded yet. This page sets each one beside the median compared French town instead.
Sources: INPN / PatriNat (protected areas 2026, Natura 2000 2024) · © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL (paths, hiking routes, woods, coast, gardens) · INSEE, Filosofi 2021 200 m grid (residents) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Météo-France normals 1991–2020 · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated November 9, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.